Snowdonia National Park, Wales: Lockwoods Chimney
This 1.9-mile out-and-back leads to a steep, but climbable crag in Snowdonia National Park.
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Lockwood’s Chimney What do area climbers do when the peaks are getting blasted? Head to this half-cliff, half-cave climb for some scary laughs. Ascend a steep cleft that splits the Clogwyn y Bustach crag in the Nant Gwynant Valley on this only-in-Wales classic. Most of the climb is simple, but a short chimney crux is rated “severe” in the old English climbing system (translation: awkward, slippery 5.6-5.7).
Bring two full-length ropes, helmets, harnesses, and a small collection of runners and wired nuts for safety on stepped cliffs that start the climb, and for the chimney itself. Headlamps make it easier to see your holds. From the top, a 60-meter rappel returns you to the climb’s base.
Local color: In honor of the 1908 first ascent by Arthur Lockwood (one-time proprietor of the nearby Pen y Gwyrd Hotel and climbing center), the chimney is traditionally tackled at night, in stormy weather, drunk, and naked. We do not advise this.
-Mapped by Steve Howe
Trail Facts
- Distance: 3.1
Waypoints
LOC001
Location: 53.065054, -4.005592
Park above Victorian-era power plant. Follow user trails across stream, and downstream along rising traverse toward Clogwyn y Bustach, the cliff outdrop to the southwest.
LOC002
Location: 53.060683, -4.014937
Base of Lockwoods. Exposed scrambling and roped climbing from here on. Return via same route.
